Autumn meant one thing at every school.
School festival.
At Kunugigaoka Academy, every class was already treating it like a war.
Class E had a board, a piece of chalk, and no idea.
Isogai stood in front of them.
"Now, everyone. The 11th Annual Kunugigaoka School Festival is on. Does anyone have any suggestions?"
The suggestions came immediately.
"Let's do a maid café!"
"How about a creperie?"
"Haunted house. Definitely a haunted house."
"Why don't we put on a play?"
Akira leaned toward Erika.
"Are you not going to help? I mean, you have more experience with this, right?"
Erika kept her eyes on the board.
"No. I didn't come here to run another student council. I am trying to stay low-key here."
Akira smiled like he knew something she didn't.
"You can't escape from yourself."
She glanced at him.
"What do you mean?"
Maehara spoke over them.
"The main campus sure is getting hyped about this year's festival."
Isogai nodded.
"They've probably figured we're up to something. Even if we can't win."
Sugino slumped in his chair.
"I hear that Asano actually contracted with a restaurant."
Nakamura whistled.
"I wouldn't put it past him."
Koro-sensei bounced at the front.
"Then we'll just have to go for the win! This match will likely hinge on a compilation of everything but assassination and studying."
Sugino stared at the board.
"I really don't want to lose to Class A… but what can we do?"
Koro-sensei's voice turned bright and sharp.
"Asano-kun is right about one thing. You need to tap into that sense of getting a bargain. If you can use a tight budget to make something of greater value, the customers will come."
"Well, yeah, but…" Maehara started.
Koro-sensei spread his tentacles wide.
"The answers are all around you! The value of Class E here lies in this, this, this, and this!"
Acorns. Mountain yam. Mushrooms. Freshwater catch from the streams.
He held them up like treasure.
"These ingredients are like you. Hidden in the mountains, where no one notices your efforts!"
Terasaka grinned.
"So we attack our customers with hidden weapons. Makes for a pretty assassin-y restaurant."
Koro-sensei pointed the acorn like a blade.
"Now, sell these blades like you're going in for the kill!"
The class roared.
"Yeah!"
Erika's mouth opened.
Then she shut it again.
They kept going.
"So what are we going to make with these?"
"How about ramen? Or yakisoba?"
"First, we need to know everything we can gather from the mountain. Then we can think about it."
"Yeah. Let's use the yard as the restaurant."
Erika's eyebrow twitched.
She looked like she was sitting on a speech.
They kept going anyway.
"But can anyone even climb the mountain for a restaurant?"
"If we make good food, I'm sure they will."
"Yeah. Let's do this with the power of friendship."
That was the line that did it.
Erika stood up so fast her chair scraped.
"Alright. I can't do this anymore."
The room turned.
Even Koro-sensei froze mid-bounce.
The class had the same thought at the same time.
What happened this time?
Erika walked to the board.
"I can't do this anymore. You guys are missing so many things. So many advantages. If you really want to win, you can't do it like this."
The class stared at her.
Only Akira smiled, like he had been waiting for this exact sentence.
Koro-sensei tilted his head.
"Erika-san, do you have some suggestions?"
"First," she said, "we need to talk about what we have and what our opponents have."
The chalk started moving.
Class A already has:
sponsors
money
advertising
a prime location
professional equipment
entertainers / performances
She left a gap, then wrote the other side.
Meanwhile, Class E has…
A mountain.
Erika tapped the word once.
"Now, this is our situation. Even if we use wild mountain ingredients to make a great restaurant, it won't be enough to defeat Class A. Because we have too many weaknesses."
She wrote those next.
Weaknesses
mountain path accessibility
publicity
ingredients
Nagisa blinked.
"Wait. Ingredients are also a weakness?"
Erika nodded.
"Yes. We won't get a steady supply from the mountain. And we have to worry about over-foraging too. We don't want to destroy the forest ecosystem."
Koro-sensei nodded at once.
"Erika-san is right. If we harvest too many wild ingredients, we will destroy the forest ecosystem."
Isogai looked at the board, then at her.
"Then if we have this many weaknesses, what should we do?"
"Don't worry," Erika said. "We also have advantages."
The chalk moved again.
Advantages
mountain
Then, in much larger letters, she wrote:
AKIRA
The class turned as one.
Akira pointed at himself.
"Me?"
"Of course you are. Because you are our secret weapon." Erika didn't look at him for long. "First, let's talk about the mountain path."
Akira complained.
"Wait. Explain about me first. Don't ignore me."
She ignored him.
"Ritsu. Can you bring up the forest map?"
Ritsu smiled.
"Sure."
Light spilled from Ritsu's eyes.
A satellite map of the mountain snapped onto the board, path and trees and all.
The class made a sound.
Nagisa stared.
"Why does she have projectors in her eyes?"
Akira shrugged.
"Well. Why not?"
"Focus," Erika said.
She drew a line along the path.
"The mountain path is our greatest weakness. Normally, most people won't climb a mountain even if the food is great. Normal people probably don't want to climb a boring mountain, right? So what if we do something else?"
Kataoka leaned forward.
"An event?"
Erika explained.
"If the path to the restaurant is part of the restaurant event itself, it will be more fun, right? That's why I suggest a new plan."
She wrote it under the map.
Ingredients treasure hunt.
"We turn the path into events where they gather ingredients. Some ingredients we can even plant ahead of time, so it stays fair and we don't strip the forest. When they get to the top, they can give those ingredients to the chef and have him make something unique from what they found. What do you think?"
The room went quiet in a useful way.
People were actually thinking.
Koro-sensei raised a tentacle.
"Erika-san, the idea sounds good, but I have some doubts. What if someone does not find many ingredients? And I don't think anyone can make unique foods for each customer."
Erika nodded like she had been waiting for that too.
"I know. That's why we make two things. A normal wild-ingredient restaurant and a cooking theater for the unique ingredients, where we put on a show too."
Nagisa frowned.
"But who can even cook like that?"
Erika smiled and pointed.
"That's why we have a secret super weapon, Akira."
Akira suddenly understood.
"Wait. You want me to cook?"
Erika did not even blink.
"Yeah. I'm sure you can do it."
Akira complained.
"No way. I can't cook for that many people."
Erika looked strict.
"Don't be lazy. Everyone is going to work hard. So are you."
The rest of the class—everyone except Koro-sensei and Ritsu—stared at him.
They did not even know he could cook.
Kayano raised a hand.
"Erika-san, can Akira-kun really cook? I mean, you said all the lunches you guys bring are made by you, right?"
A few people nodded.
Erika sighed.
"I guess seeing is believing. All right, Koro-sensei. Emergency kitchen."
Koro-sensei jerked.
"What?"
Erika explained.
"Bring out some cooking utensils. We can show everyone Akira cooking."
He recovered immediately.
"Of course! But you have to make Sensei something too, okay?"
Erika said it for him.
"He will."
The classroom vanished under a blur of yellow motion.
When the afterimages settled, burners, cutting boards, pans, and a passable counter were sitting where the desks had been.
"Temporary kitchen is ready!" Koro-sensei announced. "Akira-kun can use these ingredients I collected from the mountain too."
Erika pointed at the stove.
"All right, Akira. Go for it."
Akira whined.
"But why?"
Erika said sternly.
"Now."
Akira slumped.
"…Okay."
He walked to the station like he was walking to a duel.
The ingredients were laid out in front of him.
He looked at them the way he looked at an enemy.
Then he put on the apron.
It sat on him like battle armor.
His face changed.
The room went quiet without anyone deciding to.
The class's attention went with it, whether they meant to or not.
He washed the ingredients first.
Even that looked cool.
Then the knife came down.
Vegetables opened in clean, fast lines. No wasted motion. No pause to show off. It still looked like a show.
Someone whispered it first.
"So he can cook."
"He's cutting this well."
"What kind of assassination technique is this?"
"He looks so stylish."
Akira started making noodles from scratch.
Sweet potato.
Nagisa leaned in.
"Is he making noodles with sweet potato?"
Muramatsu's eyes were wide.
"I heard people can make noodles from it, but this is the first time I'm seeing it."
Sauce went on next, built out of crayfish shells. Mushrooms hit the grill. Fish went under steam.
Maehara made a helpless sound.
"How can he make this many things at the same time?"
Isogai stared.
"Is he a professional?"
Mountain yam and more sweet potato became a paste.
The wok came last.
Noodles hit hot oil and mountain stock and turned into something that did not belong in a wooden classroom.
The class had the same thought at the same time.
He is so cool.
Akira plated everything like it was leaving a hotel kitchen, not a classroom.
He set the dishes down.
"Dig in!"
They stared at him.
Koro-sensei moved first.
"Then Sensei will test the food before everyone else—"
"Nooo!"
The class rushed him.
What followed was not polite tasting.
It was exaggerated, helpless, immediate.
"This is so good."
"How can someone cook like this?"
"This is the best thing I have ever eaten."
Koro-sensei flailed at the edge of the mob.
"Leave something for Sensei too!"
Akira reached past them and put the mountain-yam sweet-potato paste in his tentacles.
"Here, Sensei. Something sweet for you."
Koro-sensei ate it and started crying on the spot.
"This is so good…!"
Erika folded her arms, proud.
"What do you think? Isn't he great?"
Kayano swallowed another bite.
"But why doesn't he cook regularly?"
"Because he is lazy," Erika said. "If I don't cook for him, he might just skip it or eat instant noodles all the time."
Karma looked at Akira over the rim of a bowl.
"If he is lazy, can he even cook for everyone?"
Erika turned.
"Akira. Can you?"
Akira opened his mouth.
He did not want to cook for a festival crowd.
He also did not want to say no to her.
Selena slipped into his head, far too pleased.
"Bro, just saying. If you did this well, maybe Erika-chan might even give you a kiss."
Akira's whole face brightened.
"All right. I'm in."
The class exploded.
"Yeahhhh!"
Erika's eyes narrowed.
She looked suspicious.
She also decided she could deal with that later.
There was a bigger problem on the board.
She clapped once, hard.
"Now, everyone. We need to talk about our third weakness."
The room turned back to her, still holding chopsticks.
What is it this time?
Erika smiled.
"Publicity."